OUR  HOME 

r 

FOREIGN  POLICt, 

BY 

HENRY  ST.  PAUL 

« 

NOVEMBER,    1863. 


PRINTED    AT     THE     OFFICE    OF   THE     DAILY    HE  i  "i  KU    AND     /LDVEBTlSMB. 

I 


■\ 


'mtJIOW  -CTiON 


OUR  HOME  AND  FOREIGN  POLICY. 


T. 

If  one  error,  amongst  the  many  errors,  vices  and  crimes,  of  the 
late  U.  S.,  was  prevalent  more  than  any  other,  it  was  that  by 
which,  yet  untried,  the  people  of  that  defunct  Republic,  confi- 
dently asserted  and  complacently  believed  in  their  superiority  as 
a  family  of  the  Human  Race  Mistaking  their  prodigious  mate- 
rial developement  for  an  evidence  of  intellectual  power  and 
moral  progress  their  blind  and  rapacious  vanity  led  them  to 
ignore  the  real  sources  of  that  prosperity,  namely  :  Extent  of 
territory  and  sparsity  of  population,  whilst  they  boastingly 
prided  themselves  on  being  a  "j-oung  people"  instead  of  admit- 
ting they  were  merely  a  new  and  experimental  society.  That 
these  illusions  have  been  roughly  dispelled,  must  remain  an 
eternal  source  of  joy  to  the  friends  of  human  progress,  civil  lib- 
erty and  religious  tolerance. 

The  scaffolding  of  lying  pledges  and  fallacious  theories  raised 
up  by  that  refuse  of  the  English  Rabble,  the  "  Pilgrim  Fathers," 
has  at  last  Crumbled  down,  leaving  exposed  to  the  naked  eye,  its 
basis  of  hypocrisy,  falsehood  and  crime. 

Yet,  such  was  the  effect  of  the  Philosophical  teachings  of  the 
French  Encyclopedists  of  thelatter  part  of  the  XVIII  Century, 
that  this  abominable  fraud  and  cheat,  heralded  by  the  high 
sounding  name  of  Liberty,  extended  the  delusion  even  beyond 
the  borders  of  the  late  Republic  and  found  advocates  and  admirers 
in  the  old  world  :  that  Lamchefor.cault,  and  even  Chateaubriant 
in  the  last  century,  and  Tocque\7ille,  Beaumont  and  Chevalier,  in 
the  present  day,  were  the  easy  dupes  of  their  senses  and  extolled 
before  the  world,  as  a  model  government  and  society,  a  mere 
experiment  of  a  few  years,  yet  untried  by  a  course  shorter  than 
a  man's  life. 

Let  the  reader  well  understand  that  this  judgment  is  based  on 
the  aspect  presented  by  the  late  United  States  as  they  appeared 
before  the  world,  exclusively  through  the  medium  of  northern 
politics,  northern  ideas  and  northern  journalism.  The  South, 
humbled  and  crushed,  held  up  by  the  North  as  a  temporary 
leprosy,  of  whieh  they  would  soon  rid  themselves,  the  South  was 
not  counted  as  a  component  and  integral  part  of  the  Political 
Body.     Absorbed  in  agricultural  pursuits  for  the  benefit  ot   her 

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task  masters,  the  South  had  no  press  to  expound  her  principles, 
no  vessels  to  carry  abroad  a  knowledge  of  her  character. 

Her    power,   merely    intellectual,    was  only    felt    within    the 
ed  orbit  of  national  councils,  where  the  towering    eloquence 
of  her  gifted  sons    was   lost  in    the   petty   squables   of  domestic 
feuds  and  pitiful  party  quarrels. 

But  that  eloquence  never  told  on  subjects  interesting  the  great 
political  world,  and  their  splendid  specimens  will  only  be  handed 
down  and  preserved,  as  amongst  the  most  perfeot  and  polished 
of  english  oratory. 

That  old,  vicious  people  which  left  the  shores  of  Albion, 
because  they  could  not  there  carry  out  their  execrable  system  of 
political  and  religious  persecution,  that  corrupt  element  of  Purit- 
anism had  no  sooner  asserted  its  sway  over  the  benighted  natives 
of  the  Northern  Continent,  than  they  exercised  the  most  tyra-ical 
and  fanatical  rule  :  a  rule  compared  to  which,  the  severe,  but 
systematized  discipline  of  the  High  Church  of  England  was  the 
very  acme  of  Tolerance.  That  degraded  and  ignorant  race  had. 
not  oven  the  external  elegance  of  forms  to  diguise  its  revolting 
barbarity  :  The  refinement  of  the  English  cavalier  of  the  Carol- 
iuas^  and  Virginia  was,  to  the  Northern  Puritan,  unknown  and 
uncompreh ended  :  the  greasy  Psalm  Singer,  a  perverted  Bible 
in  one  hand  and  a  set  of  falsified  Scales  in  the  other,  lying  and 
cheating,  dirty  and  vulgar  to  obscenity,  was  the  ideal  of  human 
nature  brutalized. 

As  they  grew,  every  moral  deficiency,  the  germ  of  which  was 
in  their  slavish  blood,  sprung  up  in  hideous  difformity  and  that 
self  styled  young  people  had  not  lived  fifty  years,  when  every 
source  of  moral  principle  and  virtue  was  totally  extinguished: 
already,  compeared  to  their  chief  cities,  Paris,  London  and  Venice 
were  temples  of  sanctity. 

Their  gross  immorality  had  not  even  the  mask  of  gallantry  or 
the  excuse  of  sentiment  to  conceal  its  hideousness  :  worshippers 
at  the  same  altar  and  of  the  same  Idol,  man  and  woman  was  at 
any  time  read}rto  barter  honor  for  gold  :  In  New  York  and  in 
New  York  alone,  of  all  the  modern  and  ancient  cities,  could  a 
Madam  Restell  have  publicly  set  up  the  trade  of  infanticide — and 
in  New  York  alone  could  conviction  have  been  impossible,  for 
the  want  of  twelve  honest  men,  unconcerned  in  her  crimes. 

Yet,  and  as  the  road  to  perdition  is  smooth  and  tempting  at 
first,  the  Northern  States  expanded  in  material  power,  based  on 
Southern  labor.  But,  as  the  worm  which  blasts  the  fruit,  lies 
concealed  and  grows  unperceived  in  its  very  cove,  a  just  Provid- 
ence threw  in  amongst  that  people  the  seeds  of  rapid  dissolution 
— Abolitionism — We  think  we  can  trace  the  almost  invisible 
aperture  through  which  the  vengeful  worm  crept  into  that  social 
corps,  and  this  is,  when  about  1795,  a  body  of  puritanic  elders 
humbly  petitioned  Congress  to  prohibit  the  running  of  mails  on 
Sundays;  and  when,  instead  of  being  indignantly  cast  out  of  the 
National  Hall,  the  petition  was  respectfully  referred  to  a  select 


5 

committee  !  Insignificant  as  tins  fact  may  appear,  it  is  no  less 
true  that  it  w;is  the  first  entering  wedge  by  the  force  of  which 
the  Union  was  finally  severed  For,  ,  Political  and  Religious 
Freedom  go  hand  in  hand,  and  like  Coesar's  wife,  must  not  be 
suspected.  A  breath,  the  aspiration  of  a  word  sullies  and  tarnishes 
its  brightness  as  much  as  the  foulest  slander  or  the  grossest 
delinquency-  The  moment  any  man  or  body  of  men  pretend  to 
dictate  what  other  men  shall  do  or  not  do,  on  the  Sabbath,  they 
as  much  infringe  on  his  freedom  as  if  torn  by  the  violent  hand 
of  a  military  ruler. — Between  claiming  that  on  a  certain  day  you 
shall  not  receive  or  answer  the  letter  of"  one  dear  to  you,  and 
claiming  that  you  shall  not  hold  certain  things  or  beings  under 
certain  conditions,  there  is  bnt  one  stop. — That  step  was  a  short 
one  for  a  nation, — hardly  a  day, — some  sixty  years,  and  the 
framer  of  tHe  first  Sunday  law  prohibition,  in  1795,  may  well  bo 
styled  the  father  of  the  author  of  the  Abolition  Proclamation  of 
1S62. 

It  is  wonderful  to  note  how  the  South,  ignored,  or  if  noticed  at 
all,  abused,  could  steer  clear  of  northern  infamy.  How,  throug- 
ont  that  life  in  common,  which  since  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
was  a  standing  insult  and  defiance,  the  South,  escaped  the  con- 
tagious influence  of  northern  immorality.  With  a  few  exceptions 
the  spirit  of  the  South,  manly  and  sullen,  stood  up  aloof,  slowly 
and  daily  receding  from  that  Union  which  to  her  was  a  client, 
finally  drawing  out  alone  and  solitary  in  her  proud,  though  inferior 
position. — But  for  those  who  will  study  the  sources  whence  Both 
sections  sprung,  the  problem  is  one  of  easy  solution.  The  North 
owed  its  national  life  to,  and  derived  its  social  organisation  from 
that  tribe  of  thieves,  hypocrites  and  ruffians,  called  the  "f  i: 
Fathers" — who  had  left  their  country  for  their  country's  good  — 
a  sort  of  Voluntary  Botany  Bay  Society.  But,  as  Cape  Hatteras 
first  receives  and  breaks  up  the  Great  Gulf  stream,  so  does  it 
seem  that  it  broke  up  and  divided  the  flood  of  emigration,  send- 
ing to  the  dark  and  gloomy  North  the  mercenary  and  fanatical 
hordes  of  North  of  England  covenanters  and  gently  wafting  to 
the  smiling  South  the  high  minded,  liberal  cavalier  and  the  daring 
Huguenot. 

And  as  these  first  elements  became  homogeneous  to  the  soil, 
the  generations  which  followed,  agglomerated  and  harmonized 
themselves  with  each  several  original  nucleus.  Hence  in  the 
South,  Northern  stock  got  elevated  and  purified,  and  in  the  North, 
Southern  blood  bacarae  corrupt  and  degenerated.  In  less  than  a 
quarter  of  a  Century,  the  North  hated  the  South  and  the  South 
despised  the  North.  The  Chivalric  valor  of  Southerners,  whilst 
sitting  in  Congress  in  inferior  numbers,  secured  to  them  at  least 
outward  marks  of  respect  and  in  a  conflict  befoveen  a  Southerner 
and  a  Northerner,  the  Northerner  often  basely  cowed  and  even 
submitted  to  personal  chastisement. 

Yet,  this  constant,  though  forced  association  with  that  despica- 
ble race  was  slowly  working  its  demoralizing  effect  on  Southern 


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6 

manners  and  society.  Intolerance  occasionally  showed  its  Hydra 
heads,  Sunday  law  men  crept  in  amongst  us  and  Afikan  coloni- 
sation associations,  those  ill  disguised  abolition  schames,  were 
already  plotting  the '  extinction  of  our  domestic  Institutions ! 
That  magic,  or,  as  events  have  proved,  mystic  word  "Union" 
still  held  many  under  its  spell  and  but  for  the  hand  of  Providence 
which  roughly  awoke  us  t<>  our  fate,  the  filth,  slime  and  scum  of 
Northern  ideas  had  well  nigh  invaded  ihe  threshold  of  Southern 
firesides. 

But  t'hat  spell  haR  vanished  ;  and  after  a  glance  cast  on  a 
gloomy  past,  we  are  left  the  stern  task  of  surveying  the  dimly 
bright  Horizon  expanding  before  us.  Far  from  pretending  to  be 
a  youvg  penjj/e,  we  si  all  take  advice  from  the  past  and  seek  the 
lights  of  experience  so  dearly  bought  by  us. 

IT. 

Having  thus  far  alluded  to  the  vain -glorious  ignorance  of  the 
People  of  the  late  U.  S.,  we  now.  will  bring  the  same  charge 
home  to  her  so-called  Statesmen. 

Although  the  nation  owed  its  very  existence  to  foreign  sympa- 
thy and  alliances,  a  Northern  majority,  as  far  back  as  the  earliest 
days  of  the  Republic,  polluted  its  legislation  with  her  mean  and 
cowarclly  spirit  of  Egotism  and  ingratitude. 

The  U.  S.  had  hardly  taken  place  in  the  family  of  nations, 
when  France,  her  steadiest  friend  and  supporter,  was  thrown  in 
the  tumult  of  popular  ro volution  and  soon  afterwards,  all  Europe 
was  arrayed  in  asms  against  her;  She  could  not  seek  the  feeble 
material  assistance  of  the  U.  S.,  but  she  had  a  right  to  expect 
their  moral  support ;  But,  how  different !!  Whilst  at  the  South, 
every  heart  was  burning  with  sympathy  for  France  in  her 
gigantic  struggles  and  her  envoys  feted  and  greeted  wherever 
they  passed,  the  men  of  the  North  were  plotting  the  Alien  Bill 
and  the  dismissal  of  Monsieur  Genet,  and  short  of  actual  war, 
(which  they  soon  afterwards  waged  without  even  notice)  the 
whole  puritanic  North  was  on  the  side  of  England.  Shortly 
afterwards,  Washington  himself  had  so  far  forgotten  that  Jay  and 
Franklin  had  long  sought  and  finally  obtained  an  alliance  with 
Spain,  Holland  and  France,  that  he  was  penning  in  his  Farewell 
address  those  selfish  words:  "Beware  of  foreign  alliances." — 
Thus  expecting  to  sit  at  the  common  banquet  of  nations,  be 
feasted  and  toasted,  but  when  called  on  to  contribute,  coldly 
bowing  themselves  out ! 

A  nation,  like  a  man,  who  neither  receives  or  renders  favors, 
soon  looses  all  sympathy  and  her  welfare  becomes  simply  for 
others  a  matter  of  material  and  personal  interest. 

Thin  selfish  system  grew  upon  her  Statesmen  to  the  extent  of 
rendering  them  ignorant  of  the  first  rules  of  diplomacy  and  sneer- 
ingly  deride  that  science  which  Pitt,  Channing  Talleyrand  and 
Guizot  had  made  their  life  study.  The  only  departure  from  that 
easy  road  was  dictated  by  their  unbounded  vanity,  and  that  wa» 


when,  uncalled  for  by  any  actual  instance  to  protest  against 
European  aggressions,  President  Monroe,  to  his  own  Congress, 
announced  the  doctrine  of  non  intervention  on  the  western  con- 
tinent :  ■  That  vaunting  defiance  was  safely  proclaimed  at  home, 
though  intended  for  nations  which  had  not  the  slightest  inclination 
or  necessity  for  American  interference,  and  it  was,  as  such,  allow- 
ed to  pass  unnoticed  ;  but  the  disdainful  indifference  with  which  it 
was  received,  encouraged  the  belief  that  Europe  had  been  badly 
scared  and  would  so  remain  forever.  They  had  forgotten  that  no 
nation  takes  notice  of  the  principles  and  views  of  another,  uttered 
within  her  own  parliamentary  Halls.  The  U.  S.  might  have 
proclaimed  a  theory  on  tbe  emancipation  of  Chinese  Coolies  or  a 
scathing  rebuke  on  the  Hindoo  Penal  system  with  as  much  safety 
and  self  gratification  :  So  long  as  this  new  priciple  was  not  diplo- 
matically notified  to  other  Governments,  they  abstained  to  notice 
it  at  all. 

But  since  that  famous  doctrine,  what  has  been  its  working? 
England  has  actively  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  Honduras  and 
Mosquito.  France  has  taken  possesion  of  Mexico  and  is  about 
to  establish  there  a  permanent  Monarchy,  without  even  so  much 
as  condescending  to  notify  the  change  to  the  U.  S.  government. 
In  fact  no  theory,  however  absurd  or  offensive,  ever  startles  the 
world,  unless  it  be  hushered  in  by  the  potent  voice  of  cannon,  and 
any  jetty  power  may  safely  indulge  in  all  those  dictated  by  their 
fancy  or  vanity. 

Again,  at  the  commencement  of  this  war,  the  United  States 
proclaimed  to  the  world  that  the  recognizing  of  the  South  as 
belligerents  would  by  them  be  held  as  a  "casus  belli." — Yet, 
England,  France,  Spain  and  Holland  so  recognized  ihe  South  : 
Later,  it  was  announced  that  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy 
or  any  attempt  at  mediation  would  be  taken  as  an  act  of  hostility  : 
and  yet  the  French  Emperor,  on  two  different  occasions,  has 
addressed  circulars  to  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  freely  brand- 
ing  the  war  as  one  unparalled  in  barbarity  and  proposing  to  put  a 
stop  to  it  :  Why  his  beno violent  intentions  have  not  been  carried 
out,  we  will  hereafter  consider,  but  let  us  state  at  once  that  it 
was  owing  simply  to  European  complications  and  certainly  not  to 
any  fear  of  the  present  U.  S. 

And  now,  that  torn  and  dismembered  nation,  having  lost  its 
richest  and  bravest  population,  is  trying  to  enlist  the  sympathies 
of  the  pseudo  philanthropists  and  Red  Republicans  of  Europe  by 
proclaiming  the  Equality  of  races,  whilst,  at  the  same  time,  it  is 
licking  the  boots  of  the  Russian  Autocrat,  still  reeking  with 
Polish  blood,  that  blood  which  flowed  in  the  veins  of  Kosciusko  : 
the  murderers  of  Poland,  the  Serfs  of  Russian  oligarchy  are  being 
made  the  pet  idols  of  the  Empire  City  and  the  drunken  Messa- 
line  of  the  Modern  Claudius  leads  in  the  revelry  of  the  slavish 
crew. 

Yes  :  the  boasting  freemen  of  the  North,  aware  of  the  abhor- 
rence with  which  all  enlightened  nations  look    down  upon  them, 


are  fawning  before  the  Russian  Tzar  and  humbly  begging  for  an 
alliance  to  crush  at  the  same  time  and  bury  in  the  same  grave, 
Southern  and  Polish  Liberty  ! 

The  friends. of  Constitutional  freedom  need  not  fear  the  result, 
but  rather  invoke  the  day  when  the  monstrous  assemblage  will 
openly  appear  before  the  world,  that  the  last  veil  be  torn  from 
the  eyes  of  the  few  remaining  advocates  of  Northern  Re- 
publicanism. 

in- 

It  is  a  sad  fact,  but  one  which  may  as  well  be  honestly  admit- 
ted, that  when'  the  present  war  commenced,  the  self  chosen 
leaders  of  the  South  had  still ,  some  lingering  sympathy  or  at 
least,  some  surviving  esteem  for  the  North.'  Contrary  to  the 
general  rule,  our  Revolution  was  inaugurated  by  aged  men, — 
men  whose  whole  life  had  been  passed  in  the  demoralizing  com- 
panionship of  Northern  Politicians,  and  they  simply  and  credu- 
lously believed  that  the  whole  American  Race,  North  and  South, 
was  sincerely  and  equally  embued  with  the  principles  of  the 
Constitution,  as  understood  by  their  forefathers.  Instead,  there- 
fore, of  accepting  their  position  as  one  of  open  revolution,  to  be 
carried  out  as  such,  they  sought  to  convince  our  enemies  of  their 
right  constitutionally  to  secede  from  the  Union  :  they  preach- 
ed, argued  and  reasoned,  whilst  the  wily  foe  was  preparing  for 
aggression  :  Instead  of  striking,  they  consulted  :  Envoys,  nay, 
Ambassadors  and  plenipotentiaries  were  pompously  sent  to  the 
Capitol  and  weeks  elapsed  before  it  became  evident  that  our 
representatives  were  being  trifled  with.  Then  came  the  anxious 
expectations  founded  on  the  Crittenden's  Resolutions,  to  which 
many  of  our  people  were  looking  up  as  a  means  of  safety  and 
reconciliation.  Then,  followed  the  over  estimation  of  our  power 
and  the  underrating  that  of  the  North  ;  •  Although  the  President 
of  the  C.  S.  had  promptly  ordered  the  attack  on  Sumter  and 
boldly  levelled  with  the  ground  the  arrogant  flag  of  a  country  no 
longer  in  existence,  yet,  he  himself  and  his  advisers  were  only 
preparing  for  a  short  war.  Twelve  months  armies  were  raised 
and  moderate  loans  demanded.  Old  ricketty  forts,  like  Jackson 
and  St.  Phillippe,  were  leisurely  repaired  as  if  expecting  the  slow 
and  methodical  attack  of  solemn  sailing  ships,  with  their  obsolete 
armaments  of  6  and  18  pounders!  Meanwhile,  the  Provisional 
Congress  had  met :  it  was  mostly  composed  of  men  who  had  been 
used  to  the  slow  deliberations  of  the  TJ.  S.  legislative  assemblies. 
Men  having  too  much  respect  for  forms  and  precedents  and  who 
could  not  be  brought  to  believe,  in  the  infamy  of  their  former  as- 
sociates, whom,  outside  of  Congress,  they  were  treating  as  friends 
and  compatriots,  only  divided  from  them  by  political  principles  : 
Men  who  could^hot  believe  that  the  Northern  declaimer,  violent 
as  he  was  at  the  tribune,  yet  would  secretly  plot  the  murder  of  a 
colleague's  family. 

Even,  after  the  endorsement  by  most  of  them  of  the  infamous 


9 

Helper's  Book,  Southerners  and  Northerners  had  met  at  the 
same  social  board  a  .d  exhausted  the  exciting  topic  over  their 
wine  !  John  Brown's  Raid  itself  had  not  been  sufficient  to  un- 
seal their  eyes  and  instill  fire  in  their  veins  :  No:  they  agreed 
to  march  out  of  the  Union  because,  and  solely  because,  they 
thought  they  had  a  right  to  do  so. 

The  word  "Revolution"  seemed  to  sound  harshly  hi  their  ears 
and  Constitutional  arguments  were  seriously  urged  to  an  enemy 
unrelenting  in  fury  and  maddened  to  every  possible  effort  to  re- 
cover the  prize  which  alone  gave  him  commercial  life  and  politi- 
cal importance.  They  adopted  a  Constitution,  which,  with  a  few 
changes,  was  a  verbatim  reproduction  of  that  under  which  they 
had  been  groaning  for  years  Instead  of  breaking  off  with  the 
Past  and  starting  new  ideas  and  neW  emblems,  they  made  up  a 
name  and  unfolded  a  national  standard  by  the  alteration  of  a  few 
letters  and  the.  erasing  of  a  feAv  bars  and  stars:  The  absurd, 
unmilitary  codes  of  the  U.  S.  army  were  carefully  reprinted  and, 
but  for  the  impossibility  of  procuring  the  necessary  cloth  and 
button  dies,  they  would  nearly  have  adopted  the  same  uniform. 
So  that  the  People,  whom  years  of  oppression  had  goaded  into 
open  and  actual  revolution,  totally  indifferent  as  to  their  Con- 
stitutional rights  to  secede,  the  People,  which  only  wanted  the 
dogs  of  war  to  be  let  loose,  could  hardly  know  the  difference  be- 
tween themselves  and  their  hated  enemy. 

This  fatal  delusion  could  not  last  long  :  But  another  soon  fol- 
lowed :  The  brilliant  victory  vouchsafed  our  arms  on  the  plains 
of  Manassas  exhalted  our  confidence  in  ourselves  and  there,  the 
whole  nation  partook  of  the  intoxicating  draught..  The  justly 
predicted  and  well  demonstrated  superiority  of  our  soldiers  led 
us  into  a  supine  sense  of  security  and  we  sat  on  our  arms,  like 
Hannibal  in  Capua,  whilst  the  untold  mercenary  legions  of  the 
North  were  slowly. gathering  their  formidable  numbers:  The 
fall  of  our  River  and  sea  coasts,  the  depletion  of  our  armies  un- 
der an  unwise  system  of  furloughs,forced  us  to  relinquish  the  field 
where  victory  had  perched  on  our  banners  and  it  was  not  until 
the  ramparts  of  Richmond  were  threatened  by  the  vandal  hordes, 
that  we  recovered  that  brilliant  dash  and  reassumed  that  supe- 
riority which  conquered  for  us  the  admiration  of  the  world  and 
placed  the' South  amongst  the  first  fighting  nations  of  the  earth. 

But  we  must  now  notice  the  worst  of  onr  hallucinations  and  there 
charge  it  again  to  that  disregard  of  diplomatic  studies  which  was 
the  boast  of  the  late  U.  S.  fancy  statesmen. 

When  it  became  apparent  that  this  was  not  going  to  be  a 
"Short  War"  some  ill  inspired  politician  picked  up  that  Parody  of 
Carlyle's  maxim  and  exclaimed  "  tbtton  is  KinjfP  This  unfor- 
tunate quotation  has  cost  us  treasures  of  blood  and  gold  which  all 
the  cotton  fields  of  the  South  will  never  be  able  to  compensate. 
That  narrow  doctrine  unfortunately  was  but  too'much  in  keeping 
with  the  want  of  political  education  and  training  of  our  former 
Statesmen.     Affecting  to  take  notice  of  the  existence  of  other 


1# 

nations,  only  so  far  as  consumers,  the  Politicians  of  the  old  U.  S. 
school  were  profoundly  ignorant  of  European  politics  a  d 
complications.  Judging  of  other  nations  from  a  purely  commer- 
cial point  of  view,  and  absorbed  in  their  own  admiration  for  them- 
selves, they  neither  cared  for,  nor  studied  the  great  book  of  the 
world.  Balance  of  power  for  them  was  balance  of  trade,  political 
treaties  were  "  entangling  alliances"  and  the  study  of  modern 
history  on  the  great  European  theatre  was  below  the  dignity  of 
the  prattling  lawyers,  rapacious  iron  mongers  and  low  fanatical 
preachers  who  were  ruling  the  destinies  of  the  nation.  For  the 
men  of  the  North,  even  those  miscalled  Statesmen,  the  history  of 
the  world  dated  from  the  4th  of  July  1776  and  as  we  said  before, 
if  they  ever  condescended  to  remember  that  there  existed  such 
nations  as  France  and  England,  it  was  only  because  of  a  market 
for  exchange  being  found  within  their  borders. 

With  the  low  and  envious  feeling  of  Northern  puritans,  and  when 
the  din  of  arms  forcibly  snatched  them  from  their  work  sh  ops  or 
abolition  lectures,  they  sided  unvariably  with  the  tyrants  and 
against  the  weakest  party.  When  the  Crimean  war  broke  cut, 
the  sympathies  of  the  whole  Press  North  and  a  few  sycophants 
South  was  with  Russia,  openly,  avowedly  and,  when  attempting 
to  justify  it,  most  ludicrously.  Of  that  European  system  of  the 
balance  of  Power,  first  inaugurated  by  the  great  Sully,  the  friend 
and  Minister  of  Henry  IV  of  France,  they  had  never  probably 
heard  a  word :  of  the  importance  to  the  civilized  world  of  pre- 
venting the  extension  south  of  the  colossal  power  of  Russia, 
they  could  conceive  no  idea.  A  people,  fed  on  the  politics  of  the 
Tribunef  and  the  novels  of  Ned  Buntline,  could  not  be  expected 
to  feel  or  the  down  trodden  Circassian  or  the  heroic  Pole.  A 
We-t  em  or  Northern  pettyfogger  has  no  intrails,  except  for  ne- 
groes, and  this,  no  doubt,  because  of  analogy  in  lying,  baseness  and 
brutality.  Unluckily  for  us,  when  the  cry  of  "  Cotton  is  King" 
had  been  once  started,  speculations  of  every  kind  were  set  on  foot. 
Cabinet  ministers  confidently  urged  that  the  war  could  not  last 
six  ty  days  longer ;  that  England  would  be  starved  into  a  terrific 
social  Revolution  and  the  Emperor  of  the  French  driven  to  escape 
at  night  from  the  Tuileries  to  avoid  the  rough  hand  of  the  Rouen 
and  Lyons  operatives. 

This  sixty  day  note,  like,  that  of  the  lying  Seward,  had,  it  is 
tru<>,  to  be  renewed  several  times,  and  still  remains  unpaid.  But, 
crop  after  crop  was  missed  in  Europe,  Factory  upon  Factory 
closed,  and  yet,  no  volcano  engulphed  France  or  England. 
Sufferings,  yet  unknown,  were  inflicted  on  the  working  classes  of 
England,  but  the  poor  house  threw  open  its  doors  to  the  surviving 
wretches  :  In  France,  where  the  mechanic  will  not  accept  official 
alms,  christian  charity  ministered  to  the  wants  of  the  aged  and 
infirm,  when  the  quick  and  sensitive  found  his  place  in  the  rai.ks 
of  the  army  or  accepted  a  farm  on  the  fruitful  soil  of  Algeria. 

In  truth,  Populations  were  displaced,  industries  were  disarrang- 
ed, but  yet,  the  world  went  on  as  before  and  showed  only  the 


11 

vanity  and  ignorance  of  those  who  dreamt  that  the  failure  of  any 
crop  could  induce  political  changes.  We  challenge  the  advocates 
of  M  Cotton  is  King"  to  point  out  iu  the  history  of  the  world  a 
solitary  instance  where  a  dearth  or  a  plague  has  produced  a  poli- 
cal  collision.  Had  they  looked  beyond  the  limits  of  our  former 
country,  where  the  scarcity  of  hands  early  induced  and  encour- 
aged the  employment  of  machinery,  they  would  have  seen  that 
in  Europe,  in  England  chiefly,  the  introduction  of  steam  threw 
out  of  employment  at  once  thousands  of  families  ;  that  in  France, 
the  running  of  Railroads  displaced  in  two  years  upwards  of 
sixty  thousand  families,  whose  heads  were  employed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Post  mails,  diligences,  etc.,  etc.,  and  yet,  that  no  out- 
break of  importance  ever  took,  place,  but  only  numerous  instances 
of  personal  sufferings. 

They  might,  nay,  they  should  have  known  that  when  the 
sceptre  of  manufactures  was  transferred  from  the  free  cities  of 
Flanders  to  the  rising  boroughs  of  England,  upwards  of  tbi'ee 
hundred  thousand  Tisserand.s  of  Ghent  and  Ypres  were  driven 
to  starvation,  and  yet,  no  revolution  followed. 

Ere  this,  industries  have  been  prostrated,  nay,  annihilated, 
witnout  any  such  results,  and  it  was  the  height  of  folly,  if  not 
ignorance,  to  believe  that  thirty  millions  of  British  and  forty  mill- 
ions of  French  were  to  rush  into  all  the  horrors  of  war  for  a  few 
bales  of  Cotton ;  a  calamity  wbicb  in  the  course  of  nature,  the 
army  worm  or  caterpillar  might  have  as  well  brought  on. 

Distrustful  as  we  are,  not  of  the  British  people,  but  of  the  Brit- 
ish government,  we  must  state  that  England,  which  cannot  be 
starved  into  war  or  even  recognition  by  the  want  of  Coiton,  came 
never  nearer  making  a  hostile  diversion  in  our  favor  as  when  the 
Pirate  Wilkes  insulted  her  flag  by  the  seizure  of  Messrs.  Mason 
and  Slidell. 

If  we  base  our  hopes  of  foreign  intervention  on  their  mere 
material  wants,  we  are  indulging  a  fallacy,  but  when  We  find  how 
this  war  may  affect  the  honor,  dignity  and  ambition  of  England 
or  France,  then  we  may  safely  expect,  not  assistance,  but  alliance. 

Hence,  our  home  policy,  as  eloquently  said  by  President  Davis 
in  his  remarks  at  Mobile,  in  October  last,  is  to  be  carried  out  re- 
gardless and,  as  it  were,  hopeless  of  foreign  aid,  or  at  least,  of 
that  aid  which  we  expect  to  compel  by  the  witholding  of 
our  cotton  or  tobacco  crops  from  their  manufactures.  This 
childish  play  of  v  Cotton  is  Kmy"  is  now  over,  and  it  is 
with  a  sincere  blush  we  remember  that  men  placed  at  the 
helm  of  our  affairs  have  been  privately  and  publicly  indulging 
in  this  misplaced  pleasantry.  Valor  is  King — the  salvation  of  the 
South  is  within  the  South  itself — it  lies  in  those  armies  whose 
marlial  tread  shakes  he  soil  and  strikes  terror  in  the  enemy's 
heart.  lis  dangers  are  not  of  the  cowardly  foe,  though  in  count- 
less numbers,  but  in  the  timid,  the  lukewarm,  the  indifferent ;  it 
has  dangers  in  the  base  speculator,  who  hoards  up  our  produce  to 
sell  it  to  the  enemy — in  the  extortioner,  who  sucks  in  the  sub- 


.      12 

stance  of  the  soldier's  family  and  drives  him  to  desertion  through 
despair. 

Let  the  people  be  frankly  in  revolution— let  a  few  rulers  feel 
the  rough  handlings  of  public  opinion,  and  let  a  few  extoi  doners' 
shops  be  mobbed  and  devastated,  so  that  our  enemies  at  home, 
as  well  as  those  abroad,  will  acknowledge  that  we  are  "  terribly 
in  earnest." 

Let  us  beware  of  half  measures  in  Legislation,  as  well  as  in 
battles  :  "  those  who  are  not  with  us  are  against  us."  Let  a  man, 
however  high,  who  corresponds  and  trades  at  half  profits  with 
the  enemy,  pay  the  penalty  due  to  traitors— and  let  a  General 
who  surrenders,  without  a  fight,  be  shot  as  soon  as  taken :  let  in 
fact  the  words  "  Victory  or  death"  be  to  them  a  stubborn  reality. 

The  new  Congress  about  to  meet  (December,  1863)  will  contain 
many  new  members  and  members  coming  more  directly  from 
the  People,  and  more  deeply  embued  with  the  true  Revolutionary 
spirit.  Let  them  initiate  vigorous  measures,  nay,  arbitrary  ones, 
if  needed,  to  bring  out  the  whole  power  of  the  nation.  Let  those 
playti;ings  of  peacetimes,  Constitutions,  Habeas  Corpus,  be  for- 
gotten for  the  stern  realities  of  public  safety  and  national  inde- 
pendence. Better  a  thousand  times  our  country  without  any 
Constitution,  than  no  conntry  at  all.  There  is  no  danger  of  per- 
manent power  and  hereditary  empire  in  a  popular  or  legisla- 
tive assemby  ;  where  so  many  watch  and  so  many  govern,  no  one 
can  seize  the  sceptre  and  hand  it  down  to  a  successor.  With  the 
return  of  peace,  their  power,  however  absolute,  will  soon  drop 
from  their  hands  or  be  snatched  by  the  people.  There  is  danger 
in  a  Cromwell,  a  Bonaparte,  but  none  in  a  "  Long  Parliament"  or 
a  "  Convention  Nationale."  Public  opinion,  like  waters  whipped 
into  a  tempest,  will  finally  settle  and  find  its  level. 

Let  our  Congress  rule  and  govern  as  any  absolute  Monarch 
would  rule  and  govern,  responsible  to  God  only  for  the  abuse  or 
misuse  of  their  power. 

The  introductory  farce  of  "  the  most  perfect  government  the 
world  ever  saw" 'is  over  and  the  sombre  tragedy  of  life  and  death 
is  now  being  enacted.  "  I  come  no  more  to  make  you  laugh  /" 
Let  it  be  well  understood  that  all  the  constitutions  of  the  world 
are  alike  written  on  slender  and  perishable  paper,  which  the  first 
rude  hand  that  attempts  it,  may  tear  to  atoms  and  that  this  pre- 
tended "  Chef  d'oeuvre"  of  human  wisdom,  the  U.  S.  Constitution 
lasted  only  as  long  as  nobody  cared  to  pull  it  down.  It  was  no 
shield  to  us  during  nearly  fifty  years,  and  it  is  none  now  to  the 
Yankee  people  who  suffer  under  the  most  unmitigated  one  man 
rule  the  world  ever  witnessed;  and  if  that  defunct  and  impotent 
instrument  of  the  "  Founders  of  the  Republic"  is  anywise  differ- 
ent from  any  other,  it  is  in  this,  that  in  Rome,  England  and 
France  it  takes  a  Csesar,  a  Cromwell  or  a  Bonaparte  to  rob  the 
people  of  their  Freedom,  giving  them  glory  in  exchange:  whilst 
the  American  Constitution  was  cooly  pocketed  with  a  vulgar 
jefet,  by  a  low  clown,  as  a  kin  1  of  petty  larceny,  and  that  in  ex- 


13 

change  the  people  received  ruin,  shame,  and  the  loss  of  prestige 
before  the  world. 

Let  the  people  of  the  0.  S.  feel  the  hand  that  steers  their  ship 
over  the  stormy  seas  of  revolution.  Let;  them  look  up  to"  their 
Congress  as  the  French  of  1793  looked  up  to  their  Convention, 
with  hope,  confidence  and  dread.  Let  that  Congress  govern  each 
new  instance  by  its  own  merits  and  its  own  necessities,  and  if 
the  constitution  is  either  silent  or  adverse,  let  them  ignore  or  set 
it  aside.  The  a'rmy  is  with  the  Government,  heart  and  soul,  the 
army  is  fighting  neither  for  domestic  institutions,  or  the  Rights  of 
the  States,  but  for  a  free,  distinct  and  independent  [dace  amongst 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  When  that  is  conquered,  we  shall  see 
about  our  internal  affairs  and  chose  what  government  will  best 
please  or  suit  us.  Let  stay-at-home  politicians  grumble,  declaim 
and  vituperate.  Let  them  invoke  those  fancy  idols  of  peace  times, 
Constitutions  and  State  Rights  !  the  arni}^  cares  nothing  for  them  ; 
they  want  powder  and  lead,  they  want  their  families  fed  and 
they  will  give  us  independence,  and  such  independence  that  no 
Cromwell  or  Bonaparte  will  be  able  to  rise  and  stand  on  the 
proud  monument. 

Thanks  to  God,  Jefferson  Davis,  with  the  errors  incident  on  a 
passionate  nature,  is  honest  and  firm,  and  History  would  search 
in  vain  a  more  daring  chieftain  than  Longstreet,  "the  bravest  of 
the  brave,"  a  more  impetuous  leader  than  Johnston,  a  greater 
General  than  Lee  and  a  purer  and  more  classical  Hero  than 
Beauregard.' 

"J'en  passe,  et  des  meilleurs." 

To  them,  to  their  victorious  sword,  let  us  intrust  the  conduct 
of  our  Home  Policy. 

XTT. 

When  this  Revolution  broke  out,  Europe  was  just  entering 
upon  a  new  era.  A  man  who  twenty  years  ago  was  a  wanderer 
on  the  face  of  the  Globe,  had,  by  the  sole  force,  of  his  genius, 
seized  the  reins  of  government  of  the  first  Power  in  the  world. 
The  pardoned  convict  of  the  Dungeon  of  Ham,  the  fugitive 
.revolutionist  of  Boulogne,  who  had,  almost  unknown,  reentered 
the  limits  of  France  as  too  insignificant  to  be  dreaded,  had  been 
proclaimed  Emperor  of  the  French  and  in  a  few  years  had  re- 
conquered for  that  great  nation  the  leading  place  in  Europe. — 
Russia  had  been  humbled  and  compelled  to  dismantle  her  frown- 
ing fortresses  on  the  Danube.  The  treaties  of  1815  had  been 
torn,  and  five  or  six  Royal  families  swept  from  their  thrones  to 
give  existence  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  with  a  population  of 
twenty-eight  millions,  ready  to  obey  his  imperial  behests. 

Proud  Austria  had,  after  two  bloody  defeats,  sued  for  peace 
and  the  precarious  tenure  of  the  Venetian  Provinces.  His  vic- 
torious armies  had  marched  through  the  burning  sands  of  Syria 
to  assert  the  free  exercise  of  the  Christian  Religion,  wherever 
the  cross  had  been  planted  by  the  Crusaders.*  England  had 
deemed  herself  favored  in  being  allowed  to  uuite  the  banner  of 


14 

St.  George  with  the  imperial  eagles  and  follow  in  the  wake  of 
their  soaring  vflight.  Hungary,  ;:<  Poland  were  J  convulsively 
throbbing  after  the  day  when  they,  too,  would  be  allowed  to 
commence  the  work  of  regeneration  under  the  ample  and  pro- 
tecting folds  of  the  tri-color  flag. 

But,  these  sudden  changes,  this  rapid  elevation  of  one  man,  had" 
left  many  a  sore  on  the  hearts  of  the  humbled  autocrats.  The 
long  severed  elements  of  the  new  kingdom  were  slow  in  cement- 
ing an  alliance  which  Ten  centuries  of  petty  and  barbarous  war- 
fare had  taught  them  to  fear  or  to  abhor.  The  imperial  throne, 
though  strongly  founded  on  the  affection  of  the  French  nation, 
was,  in  the  eyes  of  Kings,  occupied  by  an  upstart,  whose  very 
name  recalled  past  humiliations  and  defeats,  and  nothing  but  the 
terror  of  that  name  snatched  from  them  an  unwilling  homage.  * 
To  leave  unguarded  the  territories  directly  or  indirectly  annexed 
to  his  dominions,  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  a  far  distant  war 
with  a  power,  till  then,  thought  to  be  of  some  importance,  would 
have  forthwith  induced  a  renewal  of  Kussian  Hostilities  in  the  East 
and  Austrian  intrigues  in  the  West  :  England,  wounded  in  her 
pride,  would  have  given  underhanded  encouragement  to  the 
rising  discontent  and  a  few  months  might  again  have  seen  all 
Europe  in  arms  against  France. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Europe  a  the  time  of  Lincoln's 
election  and  to  such  a  condition  ou  Statesmen  persisted  in  rem- 
aining blind  and  amusing  the  people  with  the  dream  *  of  speedy 
intervention — because,  "Cotton  was  king." — On  the  other  hand, 
standing  on  her  antique  foundations,  the  Fabric  of  English  ins- 
titutions was  not  in  any  such  danger.  Her  limits  had  remained 
the  same  and,  having  rather  lost  than  gained  in  power  and  in- 
fluence, she  could  not  be  an  object  of  jealousy  and  suspicions  for 
other  nations.  Yet,  her  old  ally  and  tool  in  the  Napoleonic  wars, 
Russia,  bore  her  a  deep  grudge  for  the  part  she  had  taken  in. 
Crimea,  whilst  Austria  reproached  her  for  allowing  France  to 
override  the  treaties  concluded  in  Vienna  under  the  guaranties  of 
British  Honor :  She,  herself,  had  to  watch  "closely  her  new  friend 
and  ally  in  whose  fidelity  she  placed  so  little  confidence  that  the 
inere  establishing^"  a  fancy 'camp  in  France  had  been  the  cause 
of  almost  a  panic,  resulting  in  at  thorough  organisation  of  the 
English  militia. 

Yet,  EnglandMwas  still  •better"than" France  prepared  for  moral 
or^  actual  interference  :  the  common  ties  of  origin  and  language, 
a  closer  connection  in  Social,  Commercial  and  Financial  inter- 
course, seemed  to  point  her*out_as  a  natural  umpire  between  the 
North  and  the  South. 

Unfortunately^England,  in  her  mad  attempts  to  maritime  sup- 
remacy, had  long^waged  a  war  against  the  Colonial  system  of 
other  nations  and  waged  that  matter  of  fact  war  under  the  mask 
of  Philanthropy. 

To  destroy  the  value  of  their  colonies  was  to  strike  a  blow  at 
the  navalj)ower  of  her  enemies  and   whilst   her   IJastings   were 


15 

consigning  millions  of  whites  in  the  East  to  a  doom  far  worse  than 
African  slavery,  Wilberforce  and  his  compeers  were  dealing 
their  death  blows  to  the  Colonial  system  of  the  Western  Hemis- 
phere. 

Calculating  coldly  the  cost  and  profits  of  her  Philanthropy,  she 
emancipated  a  few  thousand  Blacks  in  Jamaica,  whilst  tightening 
the  manacles  around  the  wrists  of  her  eastern  white  slaves  and 
whilst  consuming  and  thriving  on  the  produce  of  our  slave  labor, 
she  was  making  gigantic  efforts  to  secure  in  her  stolen  possessions 
of  India  the  production  of  the  staple  which  gave  her  commercial 
importance. 

This,  once  accomplished,  and  as  the  labor  of  the  degraded  Hin- 
doo is  obtained  without  almost  any  compensation  at  all,  England 
would  have  thrown  her  manufactures  on  the  markets  of  the  world 
at  such  ruinous  discounts  as  would  have  driven  the  American 
producer  completely  out  of  the  reach  of  competition.  This  done, 
England  cared  little  for  slaves  and  slavery,  and  the  fate  of  the 
four  millions  blacks  supported  by  our  agriculture  would  never 
have  been  inquired  into  by  her. 

The  Aristocracy  which  governs  that  country  and  at  the  same 
time  owns  its  capital  and  wealth,  the  Aristocracy  took  the  lead 
in  the  war  on  the  Institutions  of  the  South. 

Exeter  Hall  became  the  fashionable  resort  of  her  female  gent- 
ility and  was  counted  amongst  the  powers  of  the  State,  where 
ministers  pandered  to  the  vulgar  taste  which  coufd  entertain  a 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  and  help  her  getting  up  cheating  subs- 
criptions for  imaginary  Uncles  Tom.  Meanwhile,  the  honest 
british  heart,  we  mean,  the  people,  stood  sullenly  aloof,  trying  to 
understand  how  so  much  charity  was  lavished  on  distant  and 
unknown  negroes,  whilst,  at  home,  their  wives  were  perishing  of 
hunger  and  cold  and  their  children  doomed,  generation  after  gen- 
eration, to  the  work  house,  or  the  gallows  for  the  sons,  and  the 
poor  house  and  lupanar  for  the  daughters. 

Thus,  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  British  people  is  with 
us,  because  they  want  work  and  the  British  Government  against 
us,  because  they  want  Power. 

But,  how  differently  is  France  situated  ?  There,  no  real  aris- 
tocracy in  wealth  is  known,  at  least,  none  to  compare  with  Eng- 
land and  that  same  aristocracy  never  engages  in  Commercial  or 
Financial  enterprises.  Their  income,  generally  derived  from  the 
Public  Funds,  is  by  them  spent  in  elegant  leisure  and  never 
hoarded  up  :  In  short,  more  noble  families  are  ruined  than  enrich- 
ed every  year. 

In  such  a  class  of  independent  spirits,  the  sickly  sentimentalism 
of  negro  worship  could  never  find  a  hold.  Present  it  under  any 
form,  the  negro  type  will  always  be  for  them  one  of  sensual  best- 
iality, with  no  moral  qualities  to  compensate  for  the  absence  of 
physical  beauty.  The  ttfo  decrees  of  Emancipation  which,  at 
sixty  years  interval,  emanated  from  France  were  the  mere  out- 
bursts of  wild  political  enthusiasm  ;   one  by  the  Convention  and 


16 

the  other,  by  that  fanciful  Provisional  Government  of  1848,  when 
Lamartine  and  Hugo  attempted'  with  so  little  success  to  act  up 
to  their  poetical  noiions  of  Republican  Government. 

But  hardly  had  the  nation  subsided  into  anything  like  order, 
than  the  first  Bonaparte  arrested  Toussaint  Louverture  and  sent 
General  Leclerc  to  re-establish  order  in  San  Domingo  and  Louis 
Napoleon  not  only  reorganized  labor  inGuadelope  and  Martinique, 
but  commenced  his  system  of  so-called  African  apprentices,  which 
gave  so  much  concern  to  England. 

In  short,  negro  worship  is  unknown  in  France  ;  they  neither 
trouble  themselves  or  others  about  it.  On  her  vast  territory  there 
is  not  one  solitary  abolition  society,  and  Necrophilism  has  become 
simply  a  branch  of  ethics  cultivated  exclusively  by  that  diminu- 
tive party,  the  Red  Republicans. 

Thus,  the  French  Government,  which  obeys  the  impulses  of 
National  feelings,  watched  closely  and  silently  the  developement 
of  our  carrier.  They  watched  the  progress  of  those  gigantic 
armies  of  the  North,  and  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
apparent  Colossus  was  standing  on  a  sand  basis. 

The  boasted  efforts  of  the  North,  their  tremendous  armaments, 
instead  of  demonstrating  their  military  prowess,  established 
clearly  that  they  were  the  last  01  the  military  nations  of  the 
earth.  A  Government  which  embraces  over  twenty-five  millions, 
raises  armies  of  Fifteen  hundred  thousand  men,  and  yet  cannot 
succeed  in  crushing  one  less  than  five  millions  without  calling  to 
their  aid  foreign  mercenaries  and  a  servile  element  of  Four  mil- 
lions of  blacks,  such  a  Government  demonstrates  its  weakness, 
and  the  same  impotent  rage  which  hurled  Xerxes'  millions  on  the 
little  Republics  of  Greece. 

Contempt  for  such  an  adversary  soon  succeeded  to  amazement, 
and  France,  smiling  with  disdain  at  this  huge  humbug,  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  initiated  the  scheme  of  a  Mexican  Empire,  founded  on 
European  alliance.  England  and  Spain  were  first  led  in  by  her, 
under  the  plausible  pretext  of  obtaining  joint  redress  for  private 
wrongs ;  but  Spain,  still  fearing  for  her  Cuban  possessions,  and 
England  for  the  Canadas,  withdrew  after  having  struck  the  first 
blow.  Not  so  France.  Left  in  the  arena  which  she  had  skill- 
fully caused  to  be  cleared  by  her  allies,  she  came  out  alone  before 
the  world  and  openly  avowed  her  designs. 

Those  designs  were  the  forming  into  a  compact  mass  of  the 
Latin  Race  in  the  new  world,  as  she  had  already  formed  one  in 
Europe  by  creating  the  Kingdom  of  Italy  and  as  she  had  previ- 
ously attempted  by  demanding  that  Spain  should  be' recognized 
as  one  of  the  Great  Powers. 

The  Emperor's  letter  to  General  Forey,  in  a  few  terse  and 
vigorous  sentences  exposed  his  views  and  these  views  were  noth- 
ing less  than  the  raising  of  an  insuperable  barrier  to  any  further 
encroachments  by  the  Anglo-American  Race.  It  pointed  directly 
to  the  U.  S.,  and  trampled  under  foot  tfieir  vain-glorious  preten- 
sions to  rule  and  adjust  the   affairs  of  the  Western  continent. 


17 

Had  the  Yankee  ruler's  been  possessed  of  a  particle  of  national 
honor  and  courage,  this  bold  manifesto  should  have  been  sufficient 
provocation  to  pick  up  the  gauntlet  thus  thrown  in  their  face. 
But,  as  the  buffoon  of  the  White  House,  in  his  vulgar  slang,  ex- 
presssed  it,  "  One  war  at  a  time"  was  sufficient,  and  the  proud 
defiance  of  France  was  left  unanswered.  This  new  political 
axiom,  diluted  in  a  set  and  pompous  speech  by  Senator  Sumner, 
went  down  as  an  illustration  of  Yankee  low  cunning  and  Yankee 
cowardice ;  yet,  very  foolishly  at  the  same  time,  foreshadowing 
the  policy  which  the  Yankee  Government  intended  to  adopt,  as 
soon  as  free  from  their  internal  troubles. 

It  can  be  no  disparagement  of  the  people  of  the  South  to  say 
that  the  proportion  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood  in  their  veins  is  not 
bo  large  as  some  would  have  it. 

By  one  of  the  secret  workings  of  nature,  climate  and  soil,  man, 
like  any  plant,  takes  always  from  where  he  springs — although  nei- 
ther France  nor  Spain,  nor  in  fact  any  purely  Latin  Race  still 
exercises  any  political  power  within  the  limits  of  the  South- 
ern Statei,  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that  most  of  those  States  were 
originally  settled  by  French  and  Spaniards  and  that  they  formed 
the  nucleus  around  which  succeeding  generations  formed.  Slight 
as  it  may  be,  a  spark  of  their  former  spirit  and  habits  lies  con- 
cealed in  the  innermost  recess  of  Southern  habits  and  tastes. 
Even  the  bold  Cavaliers  of  Virginia  and  Carolina  themselves 
were  the  offspring  of  the  Norman  Knights  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, still  glowing  with  the  fire  of  daring  and  reckless  chivalry — 
No  one  could  cross  South  of  that  imaginary  line  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's,  without  feeling  around  him  the  free  and  bracing  atmos- 
phere of  liberal  ideas,  political  freedom  and  religious  tolerance. — 
The  flood  of  emigration  followed  its  former  course  and  the 
"insouciant"  Frenchman,  the  passionate,  though  dignified  Span- 
iard and  the  quick,  yet  lazy,  Italian,  when  seeking  a  permanent 
home  in  the  New  World,  would  ask  it  from  the  hospitable  and 
tolerant  Southerner.  There  and  there  only,  no  religious  test  was 
asked  of  him  and  he  could  raise  his  altar  and  worship  his  God 
without  contumely.  There  also  he  could  enjoy,  if  he  chose,  political 
privileges  without  almost  any  hinderance  and,  aside  of  a  few  ins- 
tances of  violence  committed  exclusively  by  Northern  assassins  in 
the  days  of  Knownothingism,  his  life,  his  property  and  his  rights 
were  sacredly  respected.  The  affinity  of  the  Southern  with  the 
latin  race  is  also  the  great  cause  of  the  sympathy  of  the  French 
Government,  which  well  knows  that  the  neighborhood  of  a  purely 
latin  and  Catholic  Empire  would  excite  neither  rivalry  nor  anti- 
pathy of  race  or  Religion. 

In  presence  of  such  facts,  what  is  "the  object  of  France  ? 

He  has  studied  the  history  of  the  last  few  years  with  but  little 
profit,  who  could  believe  that  the  Emperor  of  the  French  has  an- 
nounced his  will  to  the  world,  planted  his  Standards  on  the  walls 
of  Mexico  and  proclaimed  an  Empire,  with  no  more  thought  of 
permanency  than  had  the  Knight  errants  who,  in  the  12th  and 
2 


18 

13th  Centuries  were  founding  ephemereal  kingdoms  in  the  East 
and  the  Greek  Isles.  The  days  of  the  Lusignans  are  over  and 
Louis  Napoleon  is  no  romantic  Tancrede.  His  carrier,  commen- 
ced under  the  stern  lessons  of  adversity,  is  one  essentially  positive 
and  matter  of  fact,  and  he  is  now  moving  steadily  towards  his 
cherished  object. 

That  object  is  to  give  the  House  of  Austria  a  compensation 
for  the  loss  of  her  Italian  provinces,  and  at  the  same  time  to  open 
to  his  people  a  route  to  the  gold  field  of  Sonora. 

The  reader  has  not  forgotten  perhaps  the  fool  hardy  expedition 
of  the  Count  de  Pindray  on  those  tempting  shores  which,  with  a 
handful  of  French  adventurers  and  Californians,  he  attempted  to 
snatch  from  the  Mexican  Republic. — His  courage,  his  indifference 
before  death  are  still  vividly  present  to  us. — But,  Count  de  Pin- 
dray had  been  one  of  the  associates  of  the  obscure  Louis  Napo- 
leon in  the  gloomy  days  of  exile  and  whilst  he  was  thus  seeking 
a  new  empire  for  France,  his  former  companion  was  already 
deeply  scheming  to  secure  the  inheritance  on  him  -bestowed  by 
his  uncle. 

The  fate  of  Count  de  Pindray  deeply  moved  4he  future  ruler 
of  France  and  must  have  left  on  his  mind  a  living  remembrance. 

To  this,  perhaps,  we  may  trace  the  cause  of  the  present  con- 
quest of  Mexico  and  the  desire  to  subvert  her  former  goverment. 

With  such  incentives  of  ambition  and  perhaps  revenge,  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  Louis  Napolen,  the  ruler  of  the  most  potent  modern 
nation,  will  condescend  to  abandon  his  prize,  upon  a  mere  lecture 
from  the  Yankee  Goverment  and  shamefully  sneak  out  of  a  land 
he  has  already  conquered  ! 

Even  supposing  that  the  present  dismembered  U.  S.  should 
still  be  the  power  that  formerly  ruled  from  Canada  to  the  Rio 
Grande,  his  honor,  the  warlike  sentiment  of  France  would  hinder 
him  from  taking  the  rash  step.  Though  it  should  cost  treasures 
of  gold  and  blood,  Imperial  France  can  not  leave  the  shores  of 
Mexico  until  at  least  the  new  Emperor  is  firmly  seated  on  his 
throne. 

But,  Louis  Napoleon  is  not  only  a  warrior  :  he  is  also  the 
profoundest  diplomat  of  the  day.  However  fond  of  military  glory, 
he  will  not  seek  it  where  he  can  attain  his  end  without  resorting 
to  arms. 

He  well  knows  that  so  long,  as  the  Northern  Continent  of 
America  will  remain  under 'the  rule  of  the  United  States,  as  they 
were,  the  Rio  Grande  will  afford  but  an  insufficient  barrier  to  the 
new  Empire — its  extensive  line  would  require  a  standing  army  of 
great  magnitude  and  the  close  proximity  of  the  Texas,  Louisiana 
and  Florida  ports  demand  a  no  less  expensive  navy. 

Once  re-unite4,  the  States  would  again  swell  up  their  army  with 
the  veterans  of  the  South,  the  only  ones  capable  to  cope  on  equal 
terms  with  the  soldiers  of  France,  whilst  the  North,  with  her 
powerful  war  material,  at  the  very  doors  of  the  new  Empire, 
would  stand  in  a  constantly  threatening  attitude  towards  Mexico — 


19 

France,  on  the  other  hand,  would  have  to  import  from  her  own 
country  her  expensive  and  bulky  armaments  and  thus  saddle  her 
people  with  enormous  expenses. — The  scheme  of  a  Mexican  Em- 
pire, under  French  Protectorate,  is  not  a  new  one.  As  far  back 
as  1836,  the  cautious  Louis  Philippe  had  almost  taken  a  prelimin- 
ary step  towards  it,  when  setting  on  foot  diplomatic  relations  for 
the  annexation,  or  rather  protectorate  of  Texas  :  the  scheme  had 
so  far  progressed,  that  a  powerful  French  party  existed  already 
in  the  new  Republic,  and  but  for  the  foppish  conduct  of  the  French 
envoy,  Mr.  De  Saligny,that  Party  might  well  have  succeeded. 

We  have  tod  much  respect  for  the  official  declaration  of  the 
French  Government  to  believe  that  the  late  attempt  alleged  to 
have  been  made  simultaneously  in  October  1862,  by  the  French 
Consuls  in  Richmond  and  Galveston,  was  authorized  by  the  Em- 
peror :  but,  it  may  well  be  construed  into  an  unauthorized  effort 
of  those  officials  to  start  under  their  own  responsibility  a  new  Cel- 
lamare  conspiracy,  taking  the  chances  of  an  official  rebuke,  if  un- 
successful, but  confident  of  reward,  if  successful. 

Louis  Philippe's  plan  was,  firstly  to  establish  in  Texas  the  po- 
litical influence  of  France,  as  England  had  established  hers  in  the 
kingdom  of  Mosquito,  and  having  once  made  Texas  independent 
from  Mexico,  to  set  her  up  as  a  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  the 
U.  S. — against  their  aggrandizement  South.  The  great  error, 
however,  was  that  Texas  was  too  much  americanized  to  remain 
long  separated  from  a  country  which  had  given  her  life.  The 
plan,  also,  was  premature,  as  the  encroachments  of  the  North  on 
Southern  institutions  had  not  yet  reached  their   extreme  point. 

The  present  Emperor  of  the  French  proceeds  differently. 

He  first  aims  at  the  coalition  of  such  national  elements  as  are, 
by  instinct  of  race,  hostile  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  blood  or  more 
truly,  to  the  North  American  blood. — By  cementing  together  all 
the  Republics  and  States  of  South  America,  as  he  has  cemented 
together  the  long  severed  fragments  of  a  United  Italy,  he  will  in 
course  of  time  build  up  a  power  fully  equal  in  magnitude  to  that 
of  the  late  United  States. 

Whilst  profiting  by  the  present  dismemberment  of  our  former 
Republic  and  securing  to  Emigrants  to  Mexico  and  South  Amer- 
ica, a  durable  and  responsible  government,  he  will  divert  the 
current  of  Emigration  from  North,  to  South  America  :  The  pow- 
erful ties  of  common  origin  and  Religion  will  steadily  keep  up 
that  current,  in  which  the  Catholic  Irish  will  cheerfully  join,  as 
soon  as  quiet  and  comfort  can  be  expected  as  the  reward  of  hon- 
est and  faithful  labor.  But,  in  dread  of  invasion  from  the  North- 
ern pirates,  and  untill  the  final  process  of  agglomeration  is  comp- 
leted, the  new  Empire  will  demand  the  support  of  France  and,  in 
case  of  danger,  fight  side  by  side  with  her  patron. — Thus  France, 
with  her  forty  millions  of  population,  backed  in  Europe  by  twen- 
ty-eight millions  of  Italians,  and  eighteen  millions  of  Spaniards, 
equally  interested  in  the  supremacy  of  the  latin  race,  will  find  in 
the  New  World  a  Southern  Empire,  which  has   nothing   to  fear, 


20 

and  all  to  expect  from  her  :  This  will  be  more  than  a  fair  equiv^ 
alent  for  British  Power  in  the  East. 

But,  as  we  remarked,  the  erecting  of  such  power,  if  attempted 
in  defiance  of  the  U.  S.as  they  were,  will  be  attended  by  difficult 
and  expensive  operations  ;  whilst,  if  the  Southern  Confederacy  is 
finally  established,  the  North  dwindles  into  one  of  the  Third  or 
Fourth  rate  Powers  of  the  world.  Such  a  power  could  no  more 
dream  of  entering  the  lists  against  France  than  the  Prince  of 
Monacco  or  the  Duke  of  Hesse  Cassel. — After  the  war  the  great 
bubble  of  Northern  credit  will  explode  with  a  crash — their  man- 
ufactures, which  only  covered  the  Southern  markets  under  the 
protection  of  a  ruinous  tariff,  will  find  no  opening  in  the  world 
where  to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  british  industry  :  Their  iron 
and  coal  mines,  which  could  not  live  without  the  same  forced  pro- 
tection, will  relapse  into  their  original  silence  and  waste  and  her 
only  hopes  will  be  based  upon  an  occasional  dearth  in  Europe, 
whereby  to  export  the  surplus  of  her  cereals,  say,  once   in   ten 

years. 

Such  a  nation,  with  her  demonstrated  inferiority  in  soldiers  and 
imbecility  in  generals,  would  not  be  a  match  for  warlike  and 
intelligent  France,— and  would  soon  sink  into  the  insignificant 
position  from  which  Southern  Produces  only  ever  raised  her. 

Can  any  one  believe  that  this  master  of  political  science,  the 
French  Emperor,  will  forego  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
dismemberment  of  the  United-States,  because  of  a  local  question 
of  domestic  institutions,  which  he  has  already  shown  to  be  wholly 
indifferent  to  him  1  Can  one  suppose  that  a  nation  which  w*as  the 
first  to  recognize  Texas,  with  slavery  and  to  give  one  of  the  sons 
of  Louis  Philippe  as  a  husband  to  the  daughter,  and,  probably, 
as  a  successor,  ~to  the  Emperor  of  slave  holding  and  slave  trading 
Brazil,  may  hesitate  to  recognise  our  independence  on  that  ground? 
No  but  as  we  said  before,  the  delay  comes  not  from  any  terror 
of  that  exploded  bug  bear,  the  United-States,  but  merely  from  the 
European  complications  to  which  we  have  alluded  at  length.— 
And  a  late  event  in  Europe  has  again  added  to  those  complic- 
ations :  the  Revolution  or  rather,  outbreak  in  Poland. 

At  the  very  time  when  the  Emperor  was  issuing  his  second 
circular  to  the  British  and  Russian  Courts,  asking  their  concur- 
rence in  offers  of  mediation,  and  asking  it  in  such  terms  as  plainly 
indicated  his  resolve  to  tender  them  alone,  at  that  very  time,Poland 

^ThTdevotedandbut  too  often  ill  repaid  love  of  Poland  for 
France  is  well  known  :  From  the  time  when,  in  the  16th  Century 
she  sought  a  king  in  the  son  of  queen  Catherine  Medici,  to  the  time 
when  her  pitious  appeals  failed  to  rouse  from  his  lazy  couch  the 
debauched  Louis  XV,  who  allowed  her  to  perish  in  the  united 
errasp  of  Russia,  Austria  and  Prussia,  Poland  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  the  Republican  Party  in  France,  a  standing  reproach  to  her 
auccessive  governments.  •" 

To  recognize  and  assist  a  distant  people,  or  rather,  fragment  of  a 


21 

people,  estranged  in  language  and  origin,  and  allow  Poland  to 
renew  unaided  her  death  struggle,  was  even  more  than  could 
have  withstood  the  otherwise  potent  Imperial  Government. 

Whilst  Poland  had  on  France  every  plausible  claim  to  sym- 
pathy and  assistance,  the  Southern  States  were  only  a  detached 
part  of  a  nation  which  had,  we  confess  it,  repaid  her  past  assist- 
ance with  the  blackest  ingratitude ;  that  ingratitude  was  the 
crime  of  the  North,  as  parliamentary  reports  will  show,  but  the 
South  was  involved  in  its  odium. 

It  was  therefore  impossible  to  recognize  the  Confederacy  with- 
out first  recognizing  Poland  ,  and  the  recognition  of  Poland  was 
war  against  combined  Russia,  Austria  and  Prussia,  with  England 
closely  watching  the  progress  and  her  chances  to  side  with  the 
most  powerful  of  the  belligerents.  ^ 

Our  people,  carried  along  in  the  pursuit  of  the  war,  lost  sight  of 
that  incident  and  soon  accused  France  of  the  same  indifference 
manifested  by  England,  but  the  truth  is,  that  even  the  Powers  of 
the  French  Empire  would  have  been  too  severely  tested  by  rush- 
ing into  both  conflicts  at  once. — The  Emperor  did  what  honor  and 
public  sentiment  demanded  of  him  he  remonstrated  strongly  with 
Russia,  demanded  a  change  of  her  Policy  towards  Poland,  and, 
whether  successful  or  not,  gave  public  opinion  in  France  such 
satisfaction  as  the  standing  of  the  nation  seemed  to  require. — The 
movement  in  Poland  did  not  assume  after  all,  the  importance  first 
expected  and,  however  haughty,  the  answers  of  Russia  seemed  to 
imply  that,  though  unwilling  directly  to  yield  to  the  demands  of 
France,  she  would,  of  her  own  accord,  extend  to  the  Poles  a  more 
liberal  treatment. 

Besides  this,  the  dismemberment  and  eradication  of  Poland  is 
not  fortunately  the  work  of  the  present  century.  Disgraceful  as 
it  is,  this  generation  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  the  sober 
good  sense  of  the  French  people  finally  taught  them  the  folly  of 
trying  to  ressucitate  a  nation  which  has  been  in  her  grave  for 
nearly  eighty  years,  though  that  grave  be  one  over  which  all  patriots 
will  shed  tears. 

Having  thus  quieted  public  opinion  amongst  his  countrymen, 
the  Emperor  applied  himself  with  renewed  energy  to  the  task  of 
building  up  the  Mexican  Empire. 

His  formal  tender  of  the  throne  to  the  Austrian  Prince,  the 
acceptance  of  it  under  the  guarantee  of  French  arms  and  French 
credit,  are  no  longer  matters  of  speculation,  but  established  histo- 
rical facts — and  the  Southern  Confederacy  has  only  now  to  improve 
this  golden  opportunity  to  give  the  finishing  blow  to  the  last  hope 
of  reconstruction  indulged  at  the  North. 

We  say  it  boldly,  that  the  time  has  come  for  us  to  enter  upon  a 
more  extensive  theatre  than  that  of  private  revolutions.  We  say 
that  the  narrow,  selfish  policy  of  "no  entangling  alliances"  is  not 
suited  to  the  times  nor  to  the  genius  of  our  people ;  we  also  say 
boldly  that  unless  we  intend  to  continue  the  present  struggle  for 
generations,  it  is  time  we  should,  like  other  nations,  seek  foreign 


22 

alliances  for  offence  and  defence.  The  unparalleled  struggle  which 
hardly  five  millions  have  maintained  for  nearly  three  years,  has 
taught  Europe,  and  chiefly  France,  the  value  of  Southern  courage 
and  perseverance.  To-day,  though  we  may  need  assistance  in 
ships,  ammunitions  and  arms  (not  men !),  we  may,  to-morrow,  be 
counted  as  a  powerful  addition  to  the  ranks  of  her  braves.  Once 
restored  to  our  former  condition,  we  would  make  ourselves  and 
France  greater,  more  powerful  and  more  prosperous  than  we  have 
ever  been. 

Not  only  would  our  valiant  sons,  side  by  side  with  her  soldiers, 
emulate  their  bravery,  but  we  would  pour  at  her  feet  the  untold 
treasures  of  our  agriculture,  and  jointly  snatch  from  proud  Albion 
the  sceptre  of  manufactures. 

Once  our  domestic  institutions  restored  to  their  former  humane 
and  profitable  condition,  we  could  offer  to  France  in  exchange  of 
our  great  staples,  an  unlimited  market  for  her  thriving  industry. 

The  cotton  and  tobacco  fields  of  the  South,  her  boundless  forests 
of  the  finest  timber  in  the  world — her  iron  and  lead  mines,  and 
even  her  surplus  cereals,  united  with  the  tropical  products  of 
Mexico — would  render  her'the  mistress  of  the  world  in  arts,  man- 
ufactures, as  well  as  in  war.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico,  inclosed  be- 
tween the  capes  of  Florida  and  Yucatan,  encircled  by  Louisiana, 
Texas  and  Mexico,  would  emphatically  become  a  French  and 
Confederate  lake,  of  whtch  Cuba,  and  the  French  Islands  would 
be  the  central  key.  From  that  lake  the  piratical  flag  of  the 
United  States  coul-d  at  will  be  excluded,  and  England  herself 
compelled  to  ask  for  admission.  The  Isthmus  of  Panama,  Darien 
and  Tehuantepec  would  be  under  our  sole  control,  and  the  thiev- 
ing Yankee  crafts  compelled  to  breast  the  storms  of  Cape  Horn 
to  secure  the  precarious  tenure  of  their  Pacific  possessions. 

This  is  no  fancy  dream — it  is  a  reality  which  France  has  long 
contemplated  and  panted  for,  and  which,  favored  by  an  intelligent 
policy  on  our  part,  would  soon  elevate  us  to  the  rank  of  one  of 
he  Great  Powers  of  the  New  World. 

Dazzling  as  the  prospect  appears,  there  is  solid  foundation  for 
t,  and  if  our  Government  does  but  boldly  enter  the  lists  and 
frankly  seek  that  alliance  at  any  price,  except  national  honor,  we 
will  have  laid  for  our  children  the  foundation  of  one  of  the  great- 
est empires  of  modern  times. 

But  for  this,  a  bold,  innovating  course  is  required.  It  is  no 
longer  sufficient  to  put  forth  before  the  world  State  papers  couched 
in  polished  and  chaste  language.  We  are  a  power — we  are  a 
nation — albeit  we  are  not  yet  publicly  held  as  such  ;  but  the  time 
is  not  far  distant  when  we  will  be  able  to  reply  to  an  offer  of  re- 
cognition as  Bonaparte  to  the  Austrian  Envoys  at  Oampo  Formio  : 
"  The  Southern  Republic,  like  the  light  of  the  sun,  needs  not  be 
recognized." 

The  time  has  passed  for  indulging  in  the  selfish  and  contempti- 
ble American  system  of  self-admiration  and  self-reliance.  The 
present  war  has  clearly  established  that  our  claims  to  mental  and 


23 

political  superiority  were  idle  boasts,  and  that  we  are  simply  men, 
excited  by  the  same  passions  and  urged  by  the  same  impulses. 

Let  us  break  off  forever  with  the  futilities  of  the  exploded  Am- 
erican Union  :  Societies,  like  men,  require  alliances  ;  like  men^ 
they  have  enemies  and  they  must  have  friends.  Away  with  this 
selfish,  narrow-minded  and  bigotted  notion  of  self-estimation. 

It  is  idle  to  deny  it,  we  cannot  expect,  for  a  long  time,  to  be 
classed  as  a  leading  Power.  Our  territory  is  too  vast,  our  popu- 
lation yet  too  sparse,  and  our  domestic  institutions  too  precarious  to 
allow  us  to  stand  alone  before  the  world,  that  world  which  despises 
the  -weak  and  respects  only  the  strong.  Let  us  rather  take  example 
on  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  which,  whilst  strug- 
gling for  life  against  the  gfgantic  power  of  Spain,  were  courting 
offensive  alliances  with  England,  France  and  the  Protestant  States 
of  Germany;  which,  instead  of  keeping  aloof  and  distant  from 
"  entangling  alliances,"  were  rushing  headlong  in  all  the  political 
combinations  set  on  foot  to  humble  the  house  of  Austria,  and 
which,  in  less  than  a  century  had  raised  seven  petty  provinces, 
smaller  than  any  seven  counties  of  our  Confederacy,  amongst  the 
leading  powers  of  the  earth,  which  it  required  the  combined  efforts 
of  Spain,  England  and  France  to  stop  in  their  gigantic  increase. 

We  have  the  spirit  :  we  have  the  valor — and  God  never  blessed 
a  land  with  such  natural  advantages.  What  more  do  we  want? 
Will  / 

Let  this  will  be  our  guide.  Let  the  President  of  this  Republic 
take  advice  only  from  his  own  genius  and  cast  off  the  timid  coun- 
sels of  men  who  have  proven  themselves  unequal  to  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  time  and  in  whom  the  country  has,  long  since,  lost 
all  confidence. 


